


of coffee and unexpected love

by namjoonwae



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M, clumsy Jonghyun, comedy (sort of??), jongtae - Freeform, love struck Taemin, university student!Taemin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 02:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5767861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namjoonwae/pseuds/namjoonwae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taemin, with his overstacked piles of books and his over grown caffeine addiction, never thought that going into the coffee shop down the street would change his life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of coffee and unexpected love

**Author's Note:**

> *Cross posted on AFF*

Lifting a hand to shake off the growing amount of snowflakes that were piling on top of his head, Taemin shuffled quietly down the bare street. Shuffling his studded boots across the snow covered pathway (what sense that makes, Taemin doesn't know, but anything to distract him from the terrible cold), and bringing his jacket closer to himself, Taemin decided to never set foot outside of his house during the winter again. How some people enjoy the winter time of the year he doesn't know; he constantly feels like he's freezing his vocal cords off. Or something like that. Point is, he's cold and seeking refuge.

How well that'll actually work out, he doesn't know. He's making it happen though, at some point.

Taemin's teeth chattered quietly as he continued to wonder down the path, and upon seeing a small, bright looking cafe at the end of the street, Taemin heads towards it, looking forward to the caffeine. On his shoulder is his bookbag that contains his studying materials for the night, which sounds so exciting that Taemin cannot possibly contain his enthusiasm. Definitely.

Thankfully he reached the cafe quickly, stepping inside of the brightly colored building deligently. Stepping into the cafe was like walking into a furnace, which usually Taemin wouldn't like either, but given the circumstances, he's okay with the heat. Hearing the door greet him fondly, he looked around, noticing little things here and there about the cafe. There were brightly colored signs that indicated different drinks and food, neatly decorated furniture that seemed to tie the small shop together, and the sweet aromas of the different numbers that were calling to be ordered upon. Considering that it was then about 9 o'clock at night, there weren't many people in the cafe; just two workers, Taemin, and a middle aged couple with a young child.

Taemin nodded to himself, thinking that yes, this would be the perfect place to study.

Deciding to put his things on a table along the back of the cafe, Taemin sighed quietly, thinking about the five subjects that he really needed to study for. Typically Taemin waited until the last minute to study, thinking something along the lines of oh, I'll definitely have to study more next year, or eh, the test isn't until next week, I'll just wait until the last two days or something to study for it. This process just wasn't working anymore for him, sadly enough. He decided that he had to take control, and make this time better for himself - and what was better than studying three days in advance to the tests? Exactly. Nothing.

Shaking his head at his own antics, Taemin decided that coffee could probably help him in this situation. So to the counter he went, looking over the menu for a moment before deciding on a caramel macchiatio - which isn't something that he'd had before, but it sounded oddly delicious, so. He went for it.

Stepping forward and looking back towards the cash register area, Taemin was shocked to see another man standing there. There hadn't seemed to be anyone there just a moment ago, but Taemin guessed that he just wasn't paying attention enough (which happened a lot more than he'd like to admit, if he were to be completely honest). The man - his name tag said that he was named Key - had dark auburn colored hair, along with dark, piercing eyes. He was smiling at Taemin unbashedly, rattling off a regular greeting, then asking Taemin what he would like to have.

Opening his mouth to order, Taemin got the first syllable out when he was suddenly cut off by a low shriek. Looking around, Taemin saw the source of the interruption. The presence in the room created a still like atmosphere for a moment, before what was going on exactly finally clicked to Taemin.

The new presence just so happened to be a tired looking young man with bleached blonde hair and a single silver earring in his ear, constrasting the outfit of black on black that the blonde was then wearing. He unexpectingly turned around, in the process nearly knocking over the neatly stacked cups that were sitting on the table beside him. He shot a nervous smile to his co-worker, the one with dark brown hair behind the counter who had greeted Taemin, which then said greeter just sighed and shook his head in response to the blonde's notoriously good coordination skills. Obviously. Not that Jonghyun did these types of things regularly, or anything. Of course not. That'd be absurd. 

Looking back and forth between the two, Taemin noticed that Key had pinched the bridge of his nose, his auburn hair falling into his face messily. He seemed to debate something for a moment, before looking up at the blonde - which, from Taemin's observation, was named Jonghyun - before Key gave him a fond, irritated look that is often seen between close friends. Taemin got those looks a lot from his roomates; although Minho and Onew weren't exactly serious people, which Taemin supposed he was grateful for, on some level.

"Jonghyun," Key started, taking his hands away from his face and turning completely toward the blonde. "How many times have I told you to not make a mess out of things? We both know that neither of us will feel like cleaning it up, and this place will end up a complete mess. Don't make my life more difficult," Key concluded, his voice holding a slight aggrivation, yet teasing tone at the end, and Taemin could tell from the way that Key grinned at Jonghyun that he wasn't serious.

Jonghyun gave a startling smile, an innocence coming off from the look that could not be overlooked. The look gave off the thoughts of a mess? What? I didn't make a mess! Who made a mess? It wasn't me, I can assure you of that. 

"Ah yes, boss. I'm so sorry! What can I do to make this up to you? Wax the floors? Buy you an extravagent meal that can and will only approve thy worthy of forgiving? Anything for you to forgive me, your wish is my command!" Jonghyun could've won an award for that performance. Jonghyun's grin grew even wider, and Key laughed quietly, shaking his head at the others speech that he had just greeted their ears with.

"Yah! Don't be such a drama queen," Key said briefly, then brought his attention back to Taemin.

Taking a moment to get his thoughts back together, Taemin ordered the macchiato, handing over the money to Key. Taemin walked over to the end of the counter, tapping his fingers on the countertop lightly. He watched as Jonghyun made the drink, which was oddly fascinating.

He found, the more that he watched the other man, that Taemin found him kind of attractive. I mean, it was kind of hard not to find Jonghyun attractive. With his light hair and his dark features contrasting perfectly, Jonghyun was good looking enough to be a model, if he would want to be.

Which, Taemin found, that he could never find himself being with.

Not that he was actually thinking about that. Not at all, honestly.

Jonghyun turned around, casting Taemin a small smile and putting the drink down in front of him. Taemin swore that he felt butterflies erupt in his stomach, but that was strange, since the two hadn't even officially met yet.

This, Taemin thought, casting another glance towards Jonghyun before he mad his way back to the table, is ridiculous. You haven't even met him yet. Stop.

Deciding to ignore the feelings, Taemin went to his studying, pulling out his Chemistry, Calculus, and everything else that he had to cram as much as possible for. Taemin supposed that studying would take his mind off of Jonghyun.

He supposed wrong. Like usual.

Hearing a soft hum, Taemin looked up from his textbook, seeing Jonghyun standing beside him with a bashful smile on his face. He was holding a small glass of what seemed to be filled with a type of tea, and wore a red jacket that he hadn't worn before. Taemin immediately smiled back at him, feeling the butterflies begin to flutter again in his lower abdomen.

"I was wondering if I could maybe sit here...? You looked kind of bored, and since my shift just ended, I thought I would come over and talk. If that's okay with you, that is." Jonghyun said quickly, and upon seeing Taemin's nod of acceptance, sat down opposite of Taemin. Jonghyun put the cup down, and let his feet hang a bit since he couldn't quite hit the floor with the chairs being hight tops. Taemin found this absolutely adorable.

The two talked for hours about anything and everything - school, families, friends, interests, their favorite things, music - the conversation seemed to flow naturally. After a while though Taemin had to leave, but he and Jonghyun exhanged numbers to keep in touch with each other whenever possible.

Thus became a great friendship, which eventually turned into an actual relationship.

Taemin, with his overstacked piles of books and his over grown caffeine addiction, never thought that going into the coffee shop down the street would change his life forever. 

But he's incredibly thankful that it did.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo I posted this on AFF like, months ago, and then forgot to post it on here also, so uh. Let me know what you think of it, and thanks for reading! :)


End file.
